The Papers of Sir George Harvie-Watt

Born: 1903

Educated: George Watson's College, Edinburgh Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh

Married: Bettie Taylor (1932)

Knighted: 1945

Died: 1989

Career

1924: Commissioned Royal Engineers Territorial Army

1924-29: Officer, 52nd (Lowland) Scottish Division

1929-38: Officer, 56th (1st London) Division

1930: Called to the Bar, Inner Temple

1931-35: MP (Unionist) Keighley, Division of Yorkshire

1934-45: Member of Borough Council, Royal Borough of Kensington

1935: Brevet Major

1937-59: MP (Unionist) Richmond, Surrey

1937-38: Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Euan Wallace when Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade

1938-41: Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding 31st Battalion Royal Engineers Territorial Army

1938-40: Assistant Government Whip

1941: Promoted Brigadier to command the 6th Anti-Aircraft Brigade

1941-45: Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Winston S Churchill

1942: Territorial Decoration (with 3 bars)

1942: Deputy Lieutenant, Surrey

1944-56: Justice of the Peace County of London

1945: Queen's Counsel

1945-51: Hon Treasurer UK Branch of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

1948-50: Brigadier commanding 63rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade Territorial Army

1948-52: Aide-de-Camp to King George VI

1948-57: Territorial Army Representative Council of Royal United Services Institute

1949-62: Hon Colonel 566 LAA Regiment

1949: Member, UK Delegation to Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conferences in Ottawa and Washington

1950: Member, UK Delegation to Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conferences in Australia and New Zealand

1952-58: Aide-de-Camp to the Queen (Member of the Queen's Body Guard for Scotland, Royal Company of Archers)

1954-69: Chief Executive, Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd

1954-60: Deputy Chairman, Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd

1956-57: President Printers' Precision Corporation

1960-69: Chairman, Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd (formerly Chairman Monotype Corp Ltd, Director of Eagle Star Insurance Co, Standard Bank Ltd, Midland Bank Ltd, Clydesdale Bank Ltd, Great Western Railway Company, later British Steel Group)

1966-78: Deputy Lieutenant Greater London

1969: Gold Medal Institute Mining & Metallurgy (for distinguished service to world-wide mining)

1973-81: President, Consolidated Gold Fields Ltd

1976: Hon Freeman, City of London

1973: FRSA

Publication

1980 "Most of My Life"

The collection comprises Sir George's reports to Sir Winston Churchill as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. The reports cover the business of the House of Commons and Harvie Watt's observations on the mood of the Members of the House and reactions to WSC's speeches, policies, and the events of the Second World War. They have been annotated in red by Sir Winston Churchill. Also includes a small amount of correspondence.

The Harvie-Watt papers were deposited at Churchill Archives Centre by Lady Harvie-Watt in 1990.

The papers have been left in the five divisions in which they were received.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Sir George Harvie-Watt, HARV

Churchill Archives Centre holds the papers of Sir Winston Churchill (references GBR/014/CHAR and GBR/014/CHUR) plus a range of related archive collections. These include the papers of Churchill's wife, Clementine Spencer-Churchill, press photographs, press cuttings, and the Broadwater Collection of Churchill family photographs and albums.

Churchill Archives Centre also has a microfilm copy of Churchill's Prime Ministerial Office papers, 1940-1945 (Public Record Office classes PREM 3 and PREM 4) and holds the papers of several people whose careers were closely linked with Churchill, such as Sir John Colville, Sir George Harvie-Watt, and Sir John Martin. A list of these collections is available at: http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/collections/classified/Churchill.shtml. Catalogues to these collections are being added to the Janus website.

The catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, at the National Register of Archives in London and on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This catalogue was prepared by Natalie Adams of Churchill Archives Centre using information from the original catalogue of the collection (1990). Biographical information was obtained from Harvie-Watt's obituary in the Daily Telegraph.